By the time this publishes, runners will be a couple hours into the White River 50 Mile Endurance Run. I was planning to be one of those runners, but after rolling my ankle three weeks ago and not healing quickly enough, I decided against it.

I made the decision last Sunday, and it kind of sucked. All year I’ve had several different goals to look forward to. I ran 50k races in April, May and June as training for a 50 miler this year, which I thought would be WR50.

Without the goal on my horizon my mood took a nose dive during my run Sunday evening. I might even go so far as to say a little depressed. I briefly lost my reasons for running. Considering quitting to do something else even crossed my mind. Focusing on races obscured my real love for just running.

Often when I’m in a negative mood I end up pushing the pace or vert. I pushed the pace on Sunday, not too hard, but it was nice to run faster than I usually do. It did the trick too. By the end of the run my mood lifted significantly. I was running just to run.

Sometime in the next couple days I realized that my 50 mile goal for the year was not specific to any race. I chose WR50 mostly out of convenience. It’s close enough to home and the date worked for me. Really, I just want to complete the distance in one shot.

Since cutting back mileage a bit after rolling my ankle, I’ve been looking over maps at trails I’d like to do. There are a number of trails I could link up for 50 miles, places that I’d like to explore anyway. A few might be a little longer too.

That was part of why I decided to skip WR50. I think I’d probably be alright to finish, but I don’t want to jeopardize all the other adventures I want to go on this year. I’d rather take the time to heal now than potentially be out longer from further injury.

In the meantime, I’ll be sticking to non-technical stuff for a little while longer. And I’m not giving up on races. I like the community and they make great goals to keep motivated, as long as I don’t get so single-minded.

I hope everyone has a great run down at White River. Maybe I’ll be there next year.